Posted on 05/28/2008 3:33:36 AM PDT by RedRover
SAN DIEGO—A Marine intelligence officer heads to court Wednesday to answer charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements during an investigation into the killings of 24 Iraqis.
The court-martial of 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson is the first case to come to trial in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war.
Authorities maintain eight Marines killed the Iraqis shortly after a roadside bomb hit a convoy, killing the driver of a Humvee and wounding two Marines.
Grayson of Springboro, Ohio, was not present at the scene of the killings on Nov. 19, 2005, in Haditha, but is accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera.
Investigators allege after the bombing, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and a squad member allegedly shot five men by a car at the scene. Wuterich then allegedly ordered his men into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing unarmed civilians in the process.
Charges against all but three Marines, including Grayson, have been dropped.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Prayers up for 1st Lt. Grayson, his family, and the defense team. Any idea how long the court martial is expected to last?
With all the overheated rhetoric coming from the left and all the media articles published and all the time and money spent pursuing alleged culprits, putting forth a scapegoat has become an imperative.
Haven’t heard any predictions but, given the flimsiness of the government’s case, it shouldn’t be more than a week.
In addition to SSgt Laughner, I imagine Col Watt will testify and that could take a whole day. Haven’t heard whether Maj Dinsmore will be allowed to testify. That could take a day as well.
Prayers up for Lt. Grayson, his legal team, friends and family.
I’d be surprised if it lasted a week since none of 1st Lt. Grayson’s charges have to do with the actual Haditha incident, only the aftermath. SSgt Laughner’s testimony will be an interesting one.
Further, while many of these citizens were “un-armed” it stands to question just how “innocent” or “un-involved” they may have been about the incident.
There is something to be said for an anticipated reaction to hostilities in any given war or specific battle. The anticipated reaction of the USA to a nuclear strike by the USSR is what prevented hostilities. The precursor to that understanding happened to be events in Japan that ended WWII.
A successful strategy in past wars was to have the “innocent civilians” fear their enemy more than they feared their own fighters. Break their will to fight and/or support the fight is what won the Asian side of WWII.
The same could be said for terrorist attacks on the USA. I would expect and hope, God Forbid, that if the USA was attacked again, much of the world would wring their hands and go into panic about the anticipated reaction. We have set precedence with our reaction to 9/11. I believe that our reaction does serve as a deterrent. I would expect that rational leaders of government around the world hope that America is never attacked again for fear or our going out and toppling another country or two.
Peace through strength. It is why I believe, 100%, that we can never “pull out of Iraq.” I don't care if we “occupy” sovereign territory (Bases) in Iraq for 100 years if our ominous presence strikes fear into the hearts and souls of those that wish our innocent civilians harm.
Again, I do not condone the reckless killing of innocent civilians in any battle but understand the fog of war and adrenaline induced action in a firefight. It's an unfortunate and messy business, this thing we call war. It is also unfortunate that war is often necessary to defend innocence and freedoms. It is costly but the ROI is invaluable.
Prayers up!
It shouldn’t last more than two minutes.
Just long enough for an acquittal and an apology.
Sounds like a good plan. :-)
If Dinsmore is not allowed to testify, then that seems like an error in law to me. He was Grayson’s technical chain supervisor and would be the one most knowledgeable of the requirements to delete battlefield pictures that did not have intelligence value. The same as with contraband “war trophies,” the Army takes a dim view of those who take pictures of the dead for reasons of prurient interest.
That these pictures were spread around the battalion demonstrates the validity of the Army’s insistance that this ghoulish practice not be allowed, and it adds credibility to Lt Grayson’s insistence that they be deleted. In my opinion, it really is SSG Laughner who should be in trouble for this. He obviously is the source of all the macabre pictures that were spread around this battalion.
We’ll see. Sometimes things take longer when there’s no real case.
How can a “crime” be covered up when no crime ever took place?
Girl, it had to be Laughner. He took the pictures. They were on his camera and his computer.
THOSE pictures were the ones that were spread around the battalion. That is why the article was able to say last week that the deletion of the pictures from his computer were inconsequential because THOSE pictures had been spread around the battalion.
(At least that’s how I read it. :>)
It’s clear by now that Al Qaeda’s use of Haditha for propanganda purposes was a miserable failure. All the “involuntary martyrs” blown to pieces by Al Qaeda makes the 24 deaths in Haditha insignificant. The residents of Anbar are now more concerned about securing their future (despite the best efforts of Al Qaeda, Congressman Murtha, and the MSM).
There are so many “lessons learned” from the war in Iraq that our military will be transformed. Obviously, it’s already begun with Gen Petraeus’ leadership.
Interesting yes. However (hi Girlene), I would give it THE maximum barf rating.
Well, Briones also took pictures and may have had those passed around....or maybe it was the pic’s on Laughner’s camera/computer. Either way, the pictures should have been deleted after the first two NCO’s ordered SSgt Laughner to do so.
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